Crafting
Candle Headdress
Baylor Theatre’s 2020 production of Shadows of a Christmas Carol required creativity and flexibility both on and off the stage. An outdoor, design-focused, adaptation of a Christmas classic made six feet apart. Once I had my design for the Ghost of Christmas Past, the next step was bringing it to life, with the added hurdle of needing two identical headpieces.
Two head tracings from behind a mask and face shield, some fosshape, and several toilet paper tubes later, I had a base for the pieces. A layer of Sculpt or Coat laid the foundations for hot glue, the drips of which were excellent for simulating candle wax. White acrylic paint with gray shadows was added as a finishing touch before being handed off to my colleagues in the lighting department for wiring and programming. A small square of orange gel was placed in each “candle” to warm up the cool LEDs. Once we showed the actors how to put them on and plug them in, it was out of our hands and part of the magic.
A child of the internet who was into costumes, of course I cosplayed! Here are some of my favorite projects:
Master Chief Helmet
This helmet was made for a costume of Agent Texas from Red vs. Blue. I used a Pepakura pattern for the Mark VI Master Chief Spartan Armor from Halo. It’s made from card-stock cut and folded into shape then glued into place. Next, it was coated with fiberglass resin, to which I added a thickening agent.
Next, it was spray painted black and given a matte sealant. I rubbed furniture antiquing on the exposed edges to simulate the wear and tear of battle. The visor is a motorcycle helmet visor that has been painted and overlaid with plastic grating to achieve the signature hexagon effect.
CrockerCorp Appearifier Rifle
This prop was made for a cosplay of Roxy Lalonde from Homestuck. Working from only two available reference images, I cut out cardboard and paper mâchéd the pieces together. A few coats of red spray paint, a DIY stencil, and a matte sealant finished out the project. It was taken to FanimeCon 2017, where they didn’t require me to peacebond it. Something about it being five feet long and bright red didn’t strike anyone as realistic!
